Sligo’s Shelly Valley

Sea birds make the loveliest messes

BEHIND the gigantic sand dunes on Strandhill beach in Sligo is an otherworldly place, littered with the shells of eaten snails and sea creatures.

It’s a sandy valley carpeted with colour and flanked by long, thick green grass. Crushed shells in this graveyard catch the evening light, shaking off their deathly feel and beaming out pretty pastels – pink, green, blue, purple.

Tread lightly though. Slimy slow coaches still living trudge on in the grasses in their hundreds.

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In Yellow

How much yellow can you cram in to one weekend in Paris for the race up the Champs Elysee on the final day of Le Tour De France?

Turns out, quite a bit. It was my first visit to Paris and my number one recommendation to fellow first-timers is to meet Antonio Montani’s Velib bike tour – he’s big on wine and cheese, and picnics too, and he’ll gladly take you with him: Find Anto.

 

 

Finding Logan’s Way

One weekend in June, a handsome man and I set off to find a beach on the banks of Lough Dan. What we found was Logan’s Way, a mysterious route along the river out of Lough Dan, marked by a wooden sign at the edge of a deep pool.

Dry as it was, this hike to Military Road was memorable for its many inviting river pools, particularly the one right at the Logan’s Way arrow, and waterfalls. It was memorable for the seclusion of being in the middle of forests and for the wild swimming we couldn’t resist on the way to Tongalee Hill.